Ramblings: Brad's at Work Edition

Painting my toenails is hard for me, because I sit cross-legged almost constantly.

You would expect LA to be a fairly warm place. When you think of Ohio or, say, MAINE, you might expect those places to be a little bit colder than LA, at least. That, however, is not the case at all. Ohio's almost hitting the 90s, Maine's in the 70s, and Brad's little town of El Segundo is in the mid-60s.

I love chap stick, and I love pop, but I hate that when you're wearing chap stick, it accumulates right where you drink from your pop can. Builds into a sticky mass of chap stickiness. Gross. So I sacrifice the chap stick.

Marks came out. Did I mention this already? My rank says I'm in about the top 6%, and all of my marks range from 80 to 85. Letterwise, that's ranging from an A- to an A. I like that grade inflation has *seriously* not occurred at my university. It took a little getting used to. Seeing a 75, and still trying to give yourself a pat on the back. It gets easier when you see others with 50s/60s breathing sighs of relief.

After splitting time between Brad's PC and iBook for a week, I think I've made a decision. I prefer the PC. There just don't seem to be very many different ways to accomplish the same thing on this iBook. Like, what if I don't want to do things their way? What if I feel like going through a back door? Maybe I'm just not savvy enough on this thing to know how, but in the end, being the not terribly proficient user that I am, I'll be sticking with my PC.

I really need a back-up psychology university. What's a place that I could pick for its location, but not necessarily for its excellence in psychology? It seems easy to find the places that excel, but not so easy to find the ones in the middle.

An Afternoon in Ojai

Anne Marie and Ben H (her boyfriend) drove up from Santa Fe to Ben's home in Ojai earlier than expected, so Brad and I drove up for a little day trip to hang out, since Ojai's just about an hour and a half drive north of Brad's apartment. Unfortunately, Memorial Day weekend traffic made that about a three hour drive. Ben's house is in this gorgeous valley up in the mountains. Imagine Italy transplanted to California, blended with some southwest-y ness. There are lots of orchards of avocados, kumquats, etc. and horses. We played some koob/kubb, which Anne posted about. Ben and I won thanks to default, though it was quite a close game. We grilled out summer style: Hamburgers, corn, eggplant. It all makes sense until the eggplant. This picture is when Anne and I were forming the patties and seasoning.
Ben grilling.
Brad looking very out of his element in a country setting.
Brad looking much more in his element with a SkeeBall machine. That's right, Ben's Dad got a SkeeBall machine off of ebay. Aside from the two black widow spiders that crawled out of it, it was great.
Afterwards, Anne, Brad, and I played a very close game of Settlers before Brad and I headed home.

Written down like this, it all sounds very short and like nothing much. But it was a fabulous day.

Funny...I think.

On Saturday in Santa Fe, Anne, Jennie, and I were all in the bathroom for some reason, and don't ask me how but the subject of aluminum in deodorant came up. I think that Jennie was recommending her all natural deodorant to me...something like that. I said that I was comPLEtely apathetic about that sort of thing. Couldn't care less. Both Anne and Jennie adamantly informed me how much I should care. To which I still didn't care. Oh right. Correct me if I'm wrong, here. The case against aluminum in deodorant is that it causes Alzheimer's, right? I was a bit skeptical of this in the first place, because I remember (vaguely, in the back of my mind) hearing an "expert" saying that people may be making a correlation does not imply causation mistake. Cum hoc ergo propter hoc, just to make it official. Cart before the horse sort of thing.

So I looked it up online, very briefly, and found many regular people giving very dire warnings about the dangers of using deodorant with aluminum in it. With many typos. So I went to Google scholar, and found that studies found no association between a lifetime of deodorant use with aluminum in it and Alzheimer's.

Hmm, at this moment I'm thinking that maybe Jennie and Anne were warning about breast cancer and not Alzheimer's in relation to antiperspirant use...so I'm reading those studies now. Results: Studies have mixed results. Those that did find a correlation between antiperspirant use and breast cancer found that it was in combination with shaving. Those that started shaving and using antiperspirants earlier and use them the most frequently tend to be diagnosed for breast cancer earlier. Antiperspirant use in conjunction with shaving...honestly, those are two things that I really want to do on a regular basis. I think there's a serious confound in this study, though. There could be a difference between women who shave and use antiperspirant every day versus those who use them less frequently. If the study's depending on these women finding breast cancer via breast self-exams or visits to their gynos, then women who shave and use antiperspirant more frequently may also do breast self-exams/visit their gyno more frequently. Unless they controlled for that. If it was required that the women came in every six months/year to be examined for the study, that result would seem a lot stronger to me.

Anyways, I should not give a title for an entry before writing it, because this isn't funny at all. The POINT of this entry was that two days later, as I was applying my deodorant (as I do every single morning, after shaving every single morning) I looked down, and what should I see but a huge sticker saying, "0% ALUMINUM." Despite my apathy, a month ago I picked up a deodorant (though I prefer antiperspirants + deodorants) with no aluminum. Maybe God's trying to keep me from breast cancer and Alzheimer's. Thank you, God!

:-P

Oh, and the day after Anne and Jennie warning me, two huge bubbles were on my bar of soap, making it look exactly like a soap mouse. The bubbles looked like its eyes. And Dial is shaped sort of like a mouse. ...Sort of.

I was so tempted to jump out of the shower and take a picture to show everyone. Reasons I didn't: Naked, wet, get my camera wet, cold, probably someone in my room. Still, I was really tempted.

New boots?!

In northern Maine and Nova Scotia, there is hardly a wide selection of quality boots available. After Anne Marie brought her Dansko clogs home over Christmas, I knew I wanted some of those comfy soles. Problem: Pricey and sold nowhere near me. So when I was in Santa Fe, a seeming Dansko mecca, Anne took me by a store that carries Danskos, and I fell in love with my boots!

Here they are, on their first night out.

My first professional baseball game!

Brad took me to my first professional baseball game last night. The Cubs vs. the Dodgers. I donned one of Brad's numerous Cubs hats (the one that came closest to fitting), and we spent the next hour in the car thinking of first and middle names that go well together. I found a perfect girl's name, but I'm not telling anyone. Someone would inevitably steal it. It's that good.
The game didn't look like it was going to go well for the Cubs. They were down by...five? Then in one single inning the Cubs made seven runs, but lost 9-8 in the end. So it was quite intense, really. I said plenty of things that probably made Brad embarrassed to be sitting next to me, such as calling runs points. Almost everyone at a baseball game seems to be drunk or drinking. The huge variety of people present at a baseball game is amazing. There are little old men who look like they belong to baseball in a different time, drunk moms in their fifties wearing fake tattoo sleeves, young teenage couples, and dads ignoring their kids to pay attention to the game.

Baseball players do an excellent job of making batting look impossible.

Eating the hot dog Brad got me, sitting in my hoodie and Cubs hat, while Brad kept score (which I called taking notes), I felt very much in the spirit of baseball.
Brad put the finishing touches on his unintelligible score sheet, filled with abbreviations that I could only guess at. I'm tempted to call Brad a baseball purist, but I probably don't know enough about baseball to say that with any real knowledge. However, he just confirmed it when I asked him, so I guess I can say that. While most of Brad would prefer to live in a future where you're beamed from one location to another, I think he also belongs in the world of baseball in the 1940s/50s.
Well...that's about that. Oh, and Ben K, I'm going to miss House, so I really hope you record it!

Catch-Up (with photos)

Well, I've showered, I've eaten, and I've napped. Time to catch up on what I've done so far on this trip. For those who don't really care, just move along, 'cause this could be really boring. I'll try to be brief.

-Bangor to Boston- my first time on a plane powered *only* by propellors. Scary. I didn't know planes could bend like that.

-Boston to Columbus- I hate people who are so sweet with people they've literally only just met. Maybe this is why I'm somewhat short on friends. (Thank you to all of the friends I *do* have. I know I can be a boor.)

-1.5 days in Columbus-Ben and Julie eat so well, I managed to gain significant weight in this short amount of time. Ella's adorable and big and other than being stubborn (so Julie says) seems like a really easygoing kid. Criminally, I didn't take any photos while I was there. For updated photos of Ella, though, see benandjules.com.

-LA-Brad picked me up, and his apartment is only about ten minutes from the airport (nice). It's in a cute building, with an open-air courtyard sort of thing going on, and you can smell the ocean a little bit. Brad and I sat around that night, ate Cheez-Its, drank Pepsi (or Diet Pepsi), and watched Melinda Doolittle get kicked off of American Idol. America, you do indeed suck.

-LA to Santa Fe- Brad did the whole twelve hour drive, though I DID offer multiple times to drive. For the most part, the storms seemed to be shifting around us while we drove. Very Terry Goodkind in the desert separating the Old World. The lightning was spectacular, though. When it wasn't storming, though, the scenery was beautiful and did an excellent job of making me feel like I was in the Southwest. Well done.

SANTA FE

Thursday-Brad and I arrived late; Ben K, Dad, and Sandra had flown in earlier that day.

Friday-We went for lunch in a little bakery/patisserie that was in a ...warehouse? I learned that French toast and cream cheese are excellent together. Later that day, we all went to a softball game between the students and tutors/employees of Saint John's College. Despite liberal application and reapplication of sunscreen, I was badly burned, and am now peeling like...something that peels. I almost went with orange, but I don't think there's a god/giant-like figure above me, prying off my outer layer. Afterwards, there was a little reception for the graduates (excellent jalapeno poppers and cider), and then Anne's choir/ensemble gave a small performance, to show the parents what they'd accomplished that year. They were great, and it really made me miss singing. Oh well. They were fantastic. That night (I think) the Kesslers (including Petry, Iten, and Bond) went out with the Heilveils (Ben H's [Anne's boyfriend] family) for dinner. Due to bad luck with timing arrivals, our seating didn't sprinkle Heilveils with Kesslers; we were somewhat separated with Kesslers mostly on one end, and Heilveils mostly on the other end. The dinner was fantastic, though, and Ben K and I shared a dinner of huge-ass steak. Brad slipped out early (before his quail even arrived) to go pick up Jennie from the airport. Dr. Heiveil (pron. Heilville) and Dr. McEwan (no idea on that spelling) are Ben H's parents, psychologists, and are both very very nice. Ben H also has a little sister, Lilly, who is very nice, pretty, and somewhat quiet. Being quiet myself, I can commiserate. Plus, not only was she around the somewhat overbearing (is that unfair of me?) Kesslers, but she was also stressed out by end-of-year and end-of-high school things she needed to tie up in the next two weeks. She's moving on to the American University in Paris next year (so jealous), so best of luck to Lilly! Oh, and I got my hair cut.

The Heilveils. Dr. McKeown (sp???), Dr. Heilveil, Ben, and Lilly

Saturday- Anne's graduation!! We woke up, almost arrived late (but didn't). The ceremony was outside, and we all moved around a couple of times until we found a satisfactory location under a tree. Anne sang with a little ensemble, and whoever that guy was who thought he had to "conduct" them, I wanted to slap him, and break his baton in half. They were lovely, though.

Ensemble with "conductor."




There were one hundred and something people in Anne Marie's class, so it was nice and short. Afterwards, we escaped the crush of people and went out to India Palace for a buffet lunch. Delicious. Ben K, Jennie, and I snuck (sneaked?) off to buy Anne a present of nested mixing bowls that were assymetrical, like eggs, but once Anne got them, she quickly pointed out why their egg shape could be beneficial, and not a nuisance. I learned my lesson, and have now converted (mentally) to egg-shaped mixing bowls. Ben K and I wanted to get cigars to celebrate, but never made it to the carefully concealed cigar shop...wherever it was. We did, however, get some pretty gross champagne, and flowers (not gross). Anne made reservations for dinner that night at a lovely little restaurant (Santa Cafe) that is in what is apparently a very famous/important house. Didn't get the whole story on that. While I ordered Diet Coke and not wine, and we took pictures (at the dinner table), I felt very...low-class, but tried to forget about it.

Anne's graduation photos
Anne Marie heading up to receive her degree

Anne Marie getting her BA hood thing

After all the caps have been thrown, during the recessional. That's Anne's friend, Luke, to the left.
Shockingly well organized photo.
Sandra, Dad, Jennie, Brad, Anne Marie, Ben K, me
Congratulations, Anne!

Sunday- Dad took Jennie and Ben K to the airport. Both of Anne's feet were mysteriously entirely covered in bruises, and swollen like little balloons. Brad, Anne, and I met the Heilveil's for brunch at the St. Francis Hotel, and that was both delicious and fun. Afterwards, Brad, Anne Marie, Ben H, and I went to the animal shelter. Each dog had a little 5'x5' room (approx.), so they were easy to visit with, and had a nice space outside to play. There were so many sweet dogs there, not to mention adorable little puppies sitting in puppymounds. There were about fifty cats there as well, and some of them were *reaaaally* cool. If it weren't for the border that I have to cross so frequently, and my inconsistent place of residence and fairly frequent traveling, I would have gotten a cat then and there. Some of them looked really badass. Ben H and Anne went hot-tubbing, and while I brought them their towels (aren't I nice?) a bolt of lightning struck sooo close. Anne bolted out of the tub faster than a jackrabbit, while Ben and I, since of course the lightning had come and gone, put the cover back on the hot tub. Dad and Sandra, who saw all of this from the safety of the house (we were renting a lovely little house up in the mountains, btw), had a grand old time laughing it up. :-P Brad, Anne, and I went shopping, and I found my size in a pair of Dankso boots that I fell in love with. We tried to go to a yarn store, but it was closed. For dinner, we went to a place that had more of a chain feel to it, due to long waits at other restaurants, but we ran into the family Anne babysits regularly for (a little baby).

Monday- I bought the Dansko boots!! Woke up with a mild version of hte swollen, bruised feet Anne had. Ben H, Anne, Brad, and I played Settlers of Catan, ate some pizza, and then hung out at Ben and Anne's apartment. It's a cute little place. Has a little patio area, 1-bedroom, walk-in closet, lots of charm. Beams across the ceilings. So we all lounged around there, using the internet (no internet at the house were staying at, thus the lack of posting), until Anne and I went to Ten Thousand Waves for my birthday present (a private bath and massage). Ten Thousand Waves is a little Japanese-style spa/retreat tucked into teh mountains. Traditional Japanese buildings, little waterfalls, open-air courtyards, shoji. We changed into kimonos when we got there, and it was weird knowing that I and everyone else there was naked underneath. Good thing I didn't go to the community bath. Anne and I had a lovely hour in our private hot tub, Ichiban, and then I went to my massage with masseuse Sundown. She was great about explaining how everything was going to go down, since it was my first massage, and was also very gentle. Almost too gentle. It was very relaxing, though, and I have a newfound respect for elbows as tools of massage. I absolutely recommend Ten Thousand Waves to anyone who is in the Santa Fe area, though. After Ten Thousand Waves, Ben H, Brad, Anne, and I played a sleepy final game of Settlers (Anne schooled us) and went to bed.

-Santa Fe to LA- Brad and I made this a two-day trip. We stopped at Meteor Crater, payed the outrageous fee of $15 to enter, and tried to hold onto our clothes against the ripping wind at the top. The crater itself was fantastic and huge, and the meteor that made it was apparently only 150-feet in diameter.

Brad and I attempt to pose at Meteor Crater

After that, it was a short drive to Flagstaff, where we stayed the night, got dinner at a little "brewery" restaurant that was filled with university students, and had surprisingly good food. And a cute waitress named Shaunie. Brad and I watched the NBA lottery thing, and American Idol. I tried to watch House, but alas, it wasn't on. Instead, another show (On the Set?) was premiering, and it was sort of fun. Fifty unknown directors compete to win a spot at Dreamworks. Next day, we went to Montezuma's Castle, which is muuch more impressive in person than it is in a photo. It's clinging to the side of this looming cliff, looking all ancient and cracked, and imPOSSible to reach, and I can't believe it's still up there.

Montezuma's Castle. Little lizards were crawling around everywhere, and there were several other not very impressive ruins on the ground that hadn't survived much.

Little lizards A seven-hour drive later, and Brad and I returned to LA, ate Cheez-Its, drank Pepsi (or Diet Pepsi), and watched the Heroes finale that I missed because of my massage, the Lost finale, and the results of American Idol.

Heroes and Lost spoilers ahead.

Heroes: I think that Peter's still alive, and Nathan's dead. If that's the case, I'm cool with that. I loved seeing all the characters intersect with one another. Can't wait for next season. Cheap that Sylar just dragged himself off. Why didn't you rip that katana straight up and out of his torso, Hiro? Anime-style!

Lost: I'm so happy that Jin's still alive. My first favorite character was Mr. Echo. Killed. My second favorite character was Charlie. Now all I have left are Desmond and Hurley. Why didn't Charlie wait at the ceiling, take a last breath, and swim out the port hole thing once the water had finished coming into the room? It looked like he could fit pretty easily. Evil Mikhail (is that his name? I've forgotten him so quickly.)

TODAY-whew, bet you thought that would never come. Went to Chipotle with one of Brad's friends, Robert. Thank you for getting me out of the apartment! Preeeeeetty certain that Brad put him up to it, but I had fun nonetheless.

Photos will be added once Brad gets back and helps me figure out this iBookness.

New post coming soon....

Tonight, Brad and I are spending the night in Flagstaff on our way back to LA. Thursday, I will make an absurdly long and boring post about what's happened so far on the trip, and it will include many many pictures. Many. In fact, I'll probably make them a bit small, just so it doesn't take forever for some people to load.

And people, no Heroes comments. Brad, Anne, and I haven't seen it yet! Many thanks.

Ella Dream

I'll try and write more about my trip later, but I just want to mention something really quickly. Last night I spent in Brad's apartment in LA, before we drive to Santa Fe really this morning. Well, I had this dream last night that I walked over to Brad's fridge, opened it, and inside was Ella (my nine-month old niece), perfectly fine and gurgling with delight at seeing a face. I took her out, we had fun playing together, and later, when she needed to have a nap, I put her back in the fridge.

Weeeird.

The latest with me

Considering that my typical blog fare is about the boring things that I do from day to day, I tend to not mention celebrity names much, with the exception of movie reviews. However, in my last entry I mentioned the names of three celebrities, and first-time visitor hits on my blog just blossomed. Burgeoned. Significantly increased. And for some odd reason that annoyed me.

Annoyances aside, I did get a kickass jacket last weekend. Zipped, unzipped. Yes, I am now that person who takes pictures of herself standing in front of a mirror. How myspace-y. To go with this jacket, I just need to get a tattoo and a motorcycle. I actually want the motorcycle.I have spent the last three or four days solid tiling. Skills learned: wet saw use for straight and free-hand angle cuts...thin-set mixing...tool cleaning...yeah, so, not much in the way of skills learned. It did, though, take a surprisingly long time. And I have basically been covered from head to toe in fine tile chips for the last three days. Excellent exfoliant. What you can't see in this photo is a spot on the right where three of the long, decorative tiles are missing. Dad didn't order enough. So there will be a lovely bare spot until we order tile for the other countertops. I'll be doing the grout tonight.There was a week of unlimited trash disposal at the dump for spring cleaning, so early Saturday morning, Dad got me up and we went around the front yard, picking up all the horrible trash scarring the landscape, left over from the demolition of the house that Dad actually bought on this property. The notable thing that was thrown out was Dad's old saw. I guess Pater (my grandfather) gave this to Dad when he was 20 or 21 and building his first house, and then it was used, from the fifties or something. At the time he was making every cut on the house with a circular saw. So, Dad was very sorry to see it go. I told him that he should try and sell an antique like that on ebay, where it would find a happy home with someone who cares about old tools. We took it to the dump in the first load, and by the time we came back with the second load, though, it had already been trash-picked. Dad was very happy.

In other news, I'm leaving for Columbus tomorrow before heading out to LA. You can expect lots of picture-heavy posts during my trip.

I meant to load all these pictures as right-aligned...too lazy to to do it all over again. :-P

Eyes Solution

Well, I know everyone was on tenterhooks, wondering who those eyes belonged to. I hate prepositions. And in the end, I think that the eyes I drew failed at replicating the actual eyes. Oh well, that's just part of practicing, isn't it.

So, Eyes Number One belonged to none other than Hugh Laurie! Looking dashing for the 2006 Emmys.
Eyes Number Three belonged to Willem Dafoe. Without the rest of his face, it just doesn't really look like him. I thought that Paul Newman was a good guess.
And I don't know if just copying and pasting will work, but here's the picture I used for Elijah Wood.

And noow, time to go tile some more! Dad, Tim, and I have already been to the dump twice today in an attempt to clean out the yard. So...I really stink right now.

Eyes Update

Well, I'll take the mystery out of some of it.

Go Jennie and Ben I! The second one was Elijah Wood.

No one's gotten the first or third yet. The first eyes are the only ones that actually look like the person's, I think. I really don't think that the third can be guessed. Just in case, though, I'll give a hint. The rest of the features on this actor's face are more unique than his eyes.

I'll post who they actually are tonight.

Eyes

So, I got bored last night, and thought about how generic all the eyes are that I draw. Boring, boring, boring. Most of our assignments with people in them last year were supposed to be self-portraits. Since I have particularly everyday eyes, this didn't exactly push me to draw anything unique. So, here are three famous actors who all have eyes that I notice. Any guesses as to who they are? I think the third is pretty impossible to guess.

A Lazy Afternoon Post

The title of my blog is just about the most unoriginal thing ever. Every other person's blog is "adventures of this person," adventures of that person." However, I feel justified by my use of it (who doesn't feel that they're the exception?) since I actually had little "independent adventures" assigned to me. And this really was supposed to be about those independent adventures. And to some extent, all the rambling I do aside, it is.

And speaking of my latest independent adventure, (perhaps my proudest) here is PROOF of my amazing feat of going in and switching over my expired Ohio license to a Maine one!: Aren't you guys proud of my paranoia? That I blocked out all that personal information? That's a very un-me thing to do.

Dad and I watched Field of Dreams last night. I forgot how much I liked that movie. It's really positive and all about being constructive, and it was nice watching a movie that was so simple like that. No intrigue, no backstabbing, no evil, and yet it wasn't a romantic comedy.

I don't want to jinx anything, but the weather the last week or so has just been amazing! Seventies and sunny. The week before that, I had slippers and long johns on and was walking around in a blanket holding cappuccinos to warm me, so this is a pretty drastic swing. My favorite thing, though: The bugs have started making noises at night. I sat last night, in front of hte computer (of course), just listening to them, and it was beautiful. Hearing the bugs really makes me feel like it's finally summer.

Time to make a cappuccino...a little cappu...and back! It's more like a latte, really, 'cause I like so much milk. It's amazing that anyone actually reads these blog entries that I write. They're almost a stream of consciousness...almost. :-P

I love this picture that Julie took last Thanksgiving. We were at the BeVier's camp in Maine, and this is while everyone was playing softball/baseball. Julie was acting as photographer.

I think that Jack Johnson sounds better when his CD is skipping.

Materialistic Me

I am so materialistic. I want to be rich so that I can buy lots of THINGS! Like cute little shoes that, right now, I can in no way afford.

Or a hair cut every two months or so. Instead of once a year. :-P

Overdue

Well, I certainly have been a lazy blogger. I've been reading lots of Anne McCaffrey novels and shirking my blogging responsibilities in between working on the house.

I saw Spider-Man 3...twice. I went to see it with Tim and friends over the weekend in New Brunswick, but Dad hadn't seen it yet. And I knew that if I told him I'd already seen it, he wouldn't go, but I thought he'd really enjoy it. So I just said, "Yeah, I'd love to go see it!" when he mentioned it. He liked it, and I thought it was okay. I think that it was easier for me to like it than for people who are big fans of Spider-Man. I didn't sit through the movie knowing what they'd changed. It's like watching the Harry Potter movies for me, I bet. The movie by itself is okay, but people who know the books spend the entire time knowing all the things they leave out and don't explain, and how much crazier it could be. That's how it is with any thing like this, I suppose, so I was happy that I didn't know what they changed, and so just enjoyed (or didn't, as the case may be) what was there.

My favorite part was when SandMan was trying to collect himself for the first time, after he'd just become...sand.... I thought that scene was actually really nicely done. I've heard a lot of criticism of SandMan's character, but I don't know why. Because he was sad?

I felt like what the movie said about relationships using Peter and MJ was much more mature than what the other movies tried to get at, and I actually really liked that. Though I heard a lot of people say that they wished MJ would get out of the movies, and stop messing up Spider-Man. Sillies.

Topher Grace? Distracting. All I could think of was That 70s Show when he was on screen.

Anyways, I would recommend this movie for a rental. Unless you're a Spider-Man fan, of course.

So, Ottawa moves on to the next series. Emery's been very surprising. Almost as surprisingly good as Brodeur was surprisingly bad. No, Brodeur wasn't bad, he just wasn't as good as he normally is. And New Jersey may have had the "EGG-line," but Alfredsson, Heatley, and Spezza seem much more...likeable? Silly, but true for me. They work so well together.

Anne's graduation is rapidly approaching, and the trip will by far be the highlight of my summer. One month of traveling, visiting Brad, having epic driving fun, including stop-offs to see interesting SouthWestern-y things, going to a baseball game, and at some point I must see a movie, being together with everyone in Santa Fe for Anne's actual graduation, plus my birthday present massage (aaahhh!!!!) , and seeing everyone in Ohio, plus Grandma and Grandpa Callahan's 60th wedding anniversary. So, this is going to be one epic trip.

Since everyone's talking about American Idol...

I caught one American Idol show, and it was the American Idol Gives Back thing. I thought Annie Lennox was going to somehow be involved (didn't realize that was the next night), and since I don't know anything about her, but Jaime loves her, I thought I should watch, so that next time Jaime posts about her, I can nod my head wisely. So many commas. Too many. Bad sentence. These aren't even sentences at all now.

Anyways.

In this show that I watched, there were some that I liked, and some that I didn't like so much. But the one person who I could not beLIEVE: Jordin. Alllllmost constantly she was flat. I spent the song wanting to just push her up a little bit onto the correct note. And her big, long, diva last note, was flat, flat, flat, until she widened her sound a little bit, and the note finally fell into place. I was horrified, but not nearly as horrified as when not. one. of the judges mentioned it. This wasn't just one note that was flat! And this person has made it this far in American Idol?

Ben I's right; you shouldn't judge a person based on one song, but when he mentioned that she had some problems in this week's show, I had to share. It was really irking me.

And I think that this will be my one and only American Idol post. The Ottawa Senators won their game tonight against the New Jersey Devils, nice job. Now they're up 3-1 in the series. I keep tabs on the games online, since Dad and Sandra go to bed so early that I can't watch them (their room made of celotex is right next to the tv).

Triumphant!

I absolutely love love love the backwoodsy Maine BMV. I was all nervous, thinking that they were going to make me take the road test (I suck at maneuverability, picture lots of mutilated, squished orange cones beneath my tires. Very macabre.) since my license was out of state and expired (a bad combo). I just walked in, waited for a nice old man to stop chatting with the woman (there were no number tickets given out to tell you your order, or illuminated numbers over the people's desks saying who's next. I hate that. Sitting there, waiting hours for your number to pop up.), sat down, said, "I'd like to renew my out of state license," and that was that. Paid my fee, checked my eyes, signed my name a couple of times, took my picture, and it's coming in the mail. Of course, I'll be even happier once I'm holding my license. However, I am feeling some immense personal pride, that I accomplished such an independent adventure. Making myself actually gather all my documents, and leave the house for the BMV, knowing that I didn't really know where it was, and that I would have to talk to people, and that I would (I thought) have to take a road test where I might knock over a cone, took considerable shyness conquering. Getting over that horrible dread enough to actually do it. Anyways, that's my victory. Which means I can have insurance, now. Yay!!!